Dear sisters,

We have been reading verses and chapters, we have turned pages and have read entire books of the Bible. Little by little we have been nourishing our souls in faith, and we may not remember all that we have read, but God’s Word has been doing its work in us. His Word never returns void, we believe that, so we keep reading.

Some of us might feel discouraged to keep reading not because we are behind in our reading (because we already know that if we fall behind in our reading, we just jump in on the day we are on and happily join the others), but because we still see sinful attitudes coming out of our hearts, ugly comments coming out of our mouths, and perverse thoughts lurking in our minds. “Why keep on reading?” we might ask ourselves “Why keep it up if I am not changing?” But the way out is up and not in. So what do we do? We repent and believe. The Gospel message has not changed. The Gospel message is not only for the day we are born again. The Gospel message is for our everyday life. We repent, we believe and as a result of that, we obey.  We want to be holy because our God is Holy. The Gospel, friend, is for you right where you are now: Repent and believe. There is always grace upon grace and on top of that, more grace to help you walk in a manner worthy of your calling. So take the Book, and read on!

This week we will finish reading Leviticus (chapters 9-27) and Hebrews  (chapters 5-13). We will read also Psalms 17 and 19, and on Friday we will have another Catch-up Day (some optional readings for Friday are 1st John or 1st Corinthians).

Leviticus is one of those books that we consider boring and too long, but as you read it remember that these are the Words of God. And these Words point us to Christ, as He himself told us: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”  John 5:46-47. So let’s read with an inclination to see Christ on these pages. Hebrews is a wonderful letter that will help us read the Levitical code and the Holiness Code (including all the covenant sanctions and promises), with Christ at the center.

The heart of Leviticus is found in chapter 19. The chapter in which we read God’s Word speaking to us, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” And because we are reading all these laws, we might be tempted to think that being holy has all to do with what we do, with our efforts to keep all the loose ends tied up nicely; but the good news is that being holy is first and foremost about “being” not about “doing.” And Sisters, because we have repented and believed in Jesus Christ we have already been made holy! God is the one who has set us apart to be holy, therefore we act holy, and we strive to live holy lives, and we wholeheartedly keep pursuing righteousness. And that is why we keep taking God’s book and keep reading it, because we know that His Word washes us, and that His Holy Spirit sanctifies us and enables us to continue being holy just like He is Holy.

Keep your eyes open as you read Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews, see if you can find 13 ways in which Jesus, His work, and the results of His work are better than the Law.

Next Monday we will have our Webinar at 10:00 am PST here.  I truly hope you can join us. I am excited to share with you some great connections that are found in our readings that I am sure will help you understand the book of Leviticus in a clearer way. I will also tell you those 13 “better” things we can see in Hebrews about Jesus and His work! As always, the webinars will be recorded so that you can watch them later at your own convenience.

May our prayer this week be, “Revive my soul, make me wise, may my heart rejoice, may my eyes be enlightened as I come to your Word this week, O Lord!” (Ps. 19:7-8)

Under His Sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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Dear sisters,

Isn’t it great to know that we are moving into week 5 of this Bible Reading Challenge together?  If you signed up to start, but already feel like you won’t be able to keep up with the plan and finish strong, please read this: Do not quit. Don’t stop now, friend. Jump in on the day we are on and rejoice and be glad! Take the Book of Life and eat it. Open the Book of God and read. Feed your soul. Read one verse, and then the next, and the next one, and then the next chapter. Keep turning one page after another; God is speaking and He wants you to hear Him. Are you discouraged? Are the cares of your heart many? Open the Bible and read it in faith. Eat, God will make sure that His Word will not return void, it will do what God intends to do with it in your life. Receive it with meekness and let God give the increase. Take the Bible today and read it.

This week we will finish Exodus, 1st and 2nd Peter, and start Leviticus and Hebrews after having a Catch-up Day on Thursday. My recommendation, if you are current in your readings, is to read 1st Peter (or Galatians again) in one sitting on Thursday.

The book of Exodus, which we have been reading and I spoke about in the last Webinar, is a book in which God wants to make Himself known to His people. He wants to make His Name known, His power known, His glory known. He redeems a people for Himself to set them free to worship and love Him, and obey Him. God, Yahweh is His name, gives Israel His Law, Ten Words, that are given in the context of grace to show them how to be blessed in their walking with Him.

Yahweh wants to dwell with His people and gives them instructions on how to build a meeting place, the Tabernacle, and how to approach Him. There is a need for a priest, a mediator before God and men. So God, in His kindness, provides priests for them. The shedding of a flawless Lamb’s blood is required to open a way to His presence; substitutionary atonement to forgive sins is necessary to come to the Holy of Holies. And in all these, God keeps pointing us to the Perfect Lamb who was slain for His people and the Perfect High Priest: Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Be prepared to read the last four verses of Exodus with much excitement. These verses which tell us of God’s glory filling up the temple clearly point us to see how Jesus, the radiance of the Glory of God (Heb.3:1), fills all the earth with His glory. The Lamb of God who was slain is alive today and is King over all! In Hebrews you will read about the reign of Christ, about His supremacy over all things even now.

1st and 2nd Peter will continue to shed more light on what God was telling us in the OT about Jesus our High Priest and how now we are God’s temple. Peter will remind us of our calling to be holy and to suffer persecution, he will explain what our baptism means, and will teach of what virtues we must have in our lives to stand against the false teachers. You will be filled with gratitude as you read these two short epistles.

In Leviticus we will read about the Holiness Code and the annual calendar for the Israelites. But the heart of the book is in chapter 19:1. God wants us to be holy because He is holy and the fulfillment of this is only found in our love for God and our love for our neighbor (1st Peter and Hebrews have the principle of God’s holiness and the call of His people to live holy lives as one of their main themes, so keep an eye open to see the connections).

Friends, be ready to let the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews explain to us in detail many types and symbols that we have been reading about in Genesis and Exodus, and will be reading about in Leviticus in a very clear way. Hebrews will shed light on your understanding of the whole Redemption Story and its main character, Jesus, in a wonderful way.

I hope you can join us in our next Webinar on Monday at 10:00 AM PST. It is my prayer as I prepare these webinars that you will find them encouraging and that they will be a way to help you press on, and persevere, and in doing so, love wearing this new habit of coming to the Word every day.

May our prayer this week be, “Lord, I pray that as I think and mediate on your Word, my soul will take comfort. Remember the Word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.” Psalm 119: 52 and 49

Under His Sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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Dear sisters,

How is the reading going for each one of you? We want you to always remember that it is our desire that each woman who signed up for this challenge will finish strong. And one of the things we want to encourage you to keep in mind as we enter week 4 is that if you miss a day or two, or ten, of the Bible Reading Challenge you should not quit. By all means, please don’t quit! Just jump in on the day we all are on.Take The Book and keep reading.  Be encouraged! God wants you to come to His Word and He will not let you go empty.

This week our readings are going to be pretty amazing. Reading Galatians after just having read Genesis and before we start reading Exodus is going to be like entering into a vault filled with precious stones. Each one will shine in such a way that will bring some unique light to the passages we have been reading and the ones we will be reading next. For many of you, this will be the first time that you will see in a very clear way how the New Testament is the best commentary on the Old Testament, and you will be amazed by its radiance! For others, this will be amazing in a different way, you will have more light to see with more clarity some things that you had not seen before and you will treasure the Scriptures even more. Be ready to be dazzled, Friends!

Are you ready to open the Book and read about the way God redeems a people to Himself? Are you ready to read about the way God will destroy a nation and its gods (Egypt) and build a new one (Israel) for Himself? We will read of the first Passover, and how a Lamb’s blood was required to protect God’s people and save them from His judgement. We will read the crossing of the Red Sea, and the songs they sang (like Psalm 90). And we will read how quickly God’s people forgot their mighty deliverance and started to murmur and complain. We will read how they forgot that they were delivered to be God’s people and to worship Him alone. We will read how they forgot that God is faithful and just and merciful. But we will also read that God will not forget them. Even in their grumbling He will lead them, and He will feed them, and will give them water. And we will see Jesus there: the Bread of Life in the manna and the Living Water flowing from the Rock, which is Christ (1Cor.10:4). And of course, after reading this, we will be brought to a point in which we will need to repent from our grumbling, or burst in thanksgiving before God. Or both!

We will read how God’s law was given in the context of His amazing grace, and in the epistle to the Galatians we will read why the law was needed and was given. And as we keep reading we want to remember that obedience to the law was only expected as a result of gratitude to God for His great deliverance. As you read all the given laws, always keep in mind Ex. 20:1-2 and meditate on the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 146.

1 Peter 1 and 2 are wonderful readings to do as you read more about God’s laws and directions about the Tabernacle and the priests in Exodus. And guess what? Ready for some good news? 1 Peter has only 5 short chapters that I think that those of you who may have 15 extra minutes on Sunday to sit down to read, will love reading in one sitting.

Friends, I hope you can join us on Monday at 10:00AM Pacific Time to watch our Webinar live here: (https://www.christkirk.com/biblechallenge). If you can’t join us at that time, remember that all the webinars are being recorded so that you can watch them at your own convenience later. You can find them here:
(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTDQ1ggnV_wdm6JsHVBAaQ).

May our prayer this week be, Father, thank you for the work of your Spirit in my life. I ask you to continue working in my heart so that I may find my delight in Your commandments, which I love, and meditate on them day and night.” (Psalm 119: 47.48)

Happy reading!

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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Dear sisters,

What a blessing this Bible Reading Challenge has already been! We are so very grateful to the Lord for the way in which it has pleased Him to draw so many of us at the same time to His Word. We are grateful for each one of you. Thank you for your enthusiasm and your faithfulness. We pray for you every day that the Lord will make you understand the way of His precepts, that you will meditate in His wondrous works as you read about them in the Bible, and see them every day around you (Psalm 119:27).

This week we will be reading Genesis 37-50 and Matthew 20-28. Then, on Friday, we have a catch-up day before we start reading the book of Exodus (1-4) and Galatians (1-2). If you are current in your readings, I would love to be able to persuade you to read Galatians in one siting either on Friday (our catch-up day) or on Sunday. Reading the epistles in one sitting is truly wonderful, I am sure you will agree with me after you try it once!

We will read this week the story of Joseph, and we will be surprised to read that even though all signs point to him, he is not the one through whom the Seed of the Woman will come. He endures, by God’s grace, horrible circumstances to preserve the line through which the Promised One will come. For now I will give you the name of a character that you need to pay attention to in our readings this week: Judah. We will talk more about them in this week’s webinar. I can’t wait to share more of that with you! I hope you can watch it live (or recorded!) here.

We will be reading in the Bible and talking in our webinar about God’s Providence. We have been reading and understanding how God is Sovereign, which means that He does all that He pleases to do and that He chooses whoever he wants to choose to fulfill His purposes to bring glory to His name and good to His people.  Now, God’s Providence is the way in which God actually directs all circumstances so that His plans may be fulfilled. Both are fascinating doctrines because they bring so much hope, comfort, and rest to the soul of the believers. And in Ch. 50 of Genesis you will see exactly this. Joseph will wholly embrace the life God has chosen for him to live because he knows that God is good, that God is sovereign, and that God rules through the acts of His Providence all circumstances including the decisions of men.

In Matthew we will be reading how the Devil, the Serpent, continues to plot a way to kill the Seed of the Woman. We will see God exercising His sovereignty and how through His Providence will direct the hearts of men to betray Jesus, to mock him, to kill him; a series of events will fall into place and the Seed of the Woman, the Promised One, will be hanged on the cross because God -not the Devil- had planned and decided it that way. Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s “plan A” since the very beginning.

But the story doesn’t end there. God’s plan to redeem the nations through the Seed of the Woman will be fulfilled. Christ will not remain in a tomb. So once again we will take the Book and read. We will read what the Devil, the Serpent, never saw coming: the Son of God, the Promised One crushing his own head. The question he has asked to tempt many comes to him  as a powerful statement: God did say, Satan, that your head would be crushed! Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns! He is risen and risen indeed! Alleluia!

May our prayer this week be, Lord these circumstances are pressing me hard on my right, these others hard on my left, at times I feel crushed under the heaviness of them all, “But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, ‘You are my God.” My times in your hand, Sovereign God! May I keep, God, my eyes fixed on the risen Christ. Amen! (Psalm 119:14)

Happy reading, Friends!

Under His Sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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Dear sisters,

Isn’t it great to know that we are ready to start week 2 of our Bible Reading Challenge?  Week one was already a huge blessing and now as we go into week two we will be amazed about the story God is writing.

This week we will read Genesis 12- 36 and Mt. 8-19. Some of the chapters in Genesis are a bit longer, so you may want to divide your reading in two parts. Maybe read Genesis in the morning and Matthew in another window of time you open in your day. Yes, opening God’s Word will feel like opening a window of fresh air in your day! The days will never be quiet enough for you to read your Bible, especially if you are in that season of life in which your littlest are making messes in the bathroom and your teenagers are coming back from school really hungry. But it is there, in the midst of it all, that we can meet God in his word. Stop for a second and think about what you just read. You can meet God in the middle of your day in His Word. That is true and that is huge. Come!

We will be reading this week about Abraham and Sarah and God’s Promise. Isaac is born and God shows himself faithful -again. God will keep revealing Himself as the God who keeps Covenant in spite of all the sins we will see great men of God commit.

We will read about Isaac and their sons, and Jacob and his sons; and we won’t be able to put the Book down. Because, really? How is God going to keep the line of the Seed of the Woman alive if those He chooses are definitely not flawless characters?

In Matthew the story continues when Jesus comes down from the mountain and crowds start following him.  He heals many because that is what God wills to do. And He doesn’t tell us why the Man with leprosy was suffering, or why the servant of the Centurion was paralyzed, etc. No,  He sees beyond that and sees their faith and hears their cry for mercy and He chooses to heal them. Your faith will be encouraged for sure as you read those stories!

Jesus will call Matthew and the rest of the disciples just like God called his servants in the stories we are reading in the OT : Out of the pleasure of His own will! Don’t miss that. One of the ways God exercises his Sovereign will is by choosing men to fulfill His purpose and bring Him glory.

We will read some puzzling parables, like the parable of The Sower that Jesus tells to confuse his critical hearers. Parables, after all, Jesus tells us, are not to make the meaning of his teachings as clear as water. We can only understand them when the Spirit opens our eyes to see.

When you read the question Jesus will ask his disciples in chapter 16: 13-20, be ready to have a response. Every single human has to face that question and only the Holy Spirit can help us give the right answer that opens the door of Heaven.

Jesus will go up again on a mountain. But this time He will not be preaching, He will be transfigured and have a reunion with Moses and Elijah that a few of the disciples (He chose who) will witness. And guess what? It is recorded for us so that we may read and meditate upon, so take the Book and read it!

We will finish with a powerful question and statement that will shake your bones, strengthen your faith, and give you hope. Keep reading you will find it on Chapter 19 of Matthew verses 25-26 (don’t peek ahead!)

May our prayer this week be, “I come to you Jesus, labored and heavy laden, trusting that you will give me rest as I come to you in the Word.”  (Based on Mt. 11:28-30)

A little note to answer a question we believe you may want to ask: all webinar recordings can be found on the Christ Kirk YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnTDQ1ggnV_wdm6JsHVBAaQ 

Under His Sun and by His grace,

Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship

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